Weighted wheels and toothed gears for perpetual motion
Studies of wheels fitted with balls and partly cut gears that turn by jumps
The sheet is filled with circular wheels, several divided into four or eight sectors, some fitted with balls (pallotte) and some cut with gear teeth. The notes describe how the balls should ride within a triangle b a c and be carried around as the wheel turns from f to g h, and record a gear count of 24 divided into 12 and 12 teeth. Together they belong to Leonardo's repeated attempts to design a self-turning wheel driven by shifting weights. Additional faint marginal notes are present but not transcribed here.
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Balls carried within the triangle b a c
In the triangle b a c the balls are always to be mounted. When b comes to a, the ball is to be at c and pass to r, so that it acts from r to b. The scheme keeps a ball loaded on the descending side of the eight-sectored wheel.
Wheel that turns complete but by jumps
Each arm is to make a full turn, but by jumps. m sends a into n and stays fixed at m, and then turns from f into g h. Letters h g n m a mark the moving parts of the wheel.
Four-sector wheel: motion in favour and at rest
In a wheel divided into four quarters a b, b c, c n and n a, a n moves in favour while the centre and lever stay fixed. a b stays wholly outside and at rest, b c moves toward the centre, c n rests at the centre, and n a moves outward by the lever.
Pair of partly toothed wheels, 24 teeth as 12 and 12
A meshing pair of partly toothed wheels is annotated 24, with the teeth divided 12 and 12. The count fixes the gearing ratio between the two wheels. A separate note records the conclusion reached at the eighth part of the wheel.
